About the Hearth Father

Alfarrin, Heathen and Father of Hofstaðr Hearth. Well learned at lore, student of Old Norse and Icelandic, Deep and Spiritual Ecologist, and True Polytheist. Many-times Great Grandson of the Belgae, Ostrogothi, and Cruthin. Rune-wise stave and sign carver. Apologist for modern Polytheism.

"People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors."-Edmund Burke

"Christianity has emptied Valhalla, felled our sacred groves, extirpated our national image as a shameful superstition, as a devilish poison, and given us instead the imagery of a nation whose climate, laws, culture and interests are strange to us, and whose history has no connection with our own. A David or a Solomon lives in our popular imagination, but our own country's heroes slumber in learned history books."- George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

"Fearlessness is better than a faint-heart for any man who puts his nose out of doors. The length of my life and the day of my death were fated long ago."-Anonymous lines from 'For Scirnis'

"I think Scandinavian Paganism, to us here, is more interesting than any other. It is, for one thing, the latest; it continued in these regions of Europe till the eleventh century; 800 years ago the Norwegians were still worshippers of Odin. It is interesting also as the creed of our fathers; the men whose blood still runs in our veins, whom doubtless we still resemble in so many ways."- Thomas Carlyle

Kindred

Monday, November 27, 2006

Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson is the father of modern Asatru. He lived all his life in Iceland, in constant contact with his folk-culture and with the unseen powers that surrounded him on that holy land. It was his efforts that won Icelandic government recognition of Asatru as the traditional and honorable folk-faith of the Northern Peoples. I believe that everyone interested in revivals of the Northern Pagan Religions should read the interview done with him here:

Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson's interview moved me deeply. I think that he was and is the very image of a "grass roots" follower of the old ways- every word he speaks in this interview resonates with a timeless, earthy wisdom. His words were clearly chosen carefully, and yet, they flowed with a simple honesty that we should all aspire to, if we ever find ourselves asked such questions.

More than this, I think that Sveinbjörn's way of life is the very essence of the Northern Path- close to the Land and reverent. Despite the absurd manner in which so many modern Heathen and Pagan thug-heads try to deny the power of Nature and the Land, even going so far as to try to fight against the term "land centered" or "earth centered" as a description for modern polytheistic religions, Sveinbjörn clearly presents the most authentic Heathen perspective possible, one of complete reverence for Mother Nature. I think that the survival of Heathenry and true Paganism into the future is contingent on people coming into it who are just as "grass roots" as Sveinbjörn was, just as in touch with their Land, wherever they are, and just as willing to love the values of freedom and personal relationship with the Gods.

I wonder how well it sits with so many of the so-called "leaders" and loudmouths of the modern Asatru movement who demand that people think this or that about this God or that God, and who accuse people who see things differently from them of being evil peddlers of "UPG", to see Sveinbjörn say: "Anyone can pray to the Gods in whatever manner he likes."

My personal favorite quote from this interview was this one:

Interviewer: You live here by yourself on your land. Isn't that kinda lonely?